Traditional and practical non-lethal weapon technology has grown out of conventional small arms ammunition technology. This outgrowth has resulted in development of projectiles and technology that prevents penetration similar to what happens with a bulletproof vest and conventional lethal penetration ammunition. Using a blunt or padded or cushioned projectile to impact the target produces a deterrent pain response without penetration injury. This functions by the contract pressure of impact creating a pain response in the nervous system. These are traditionally called “Blunt Impact Technologies”: Blunt impact is used to describe the effect produced by existing rudimentary munitions such as rubber bullets, sting balls and bean bag rounds as well as more sophisticated non-lethal munitions carrying other payloads.
While generally effective, blunt impact technologies are limited in range and often have a higher risk of injury as compared to other stimuli. The worldwide development efforts of militaries and police forces research and development organizations are now focused on exploring alternative methods to deliver blunt impact effects at long ranges while minimizing the risk of injury at short ranges.
Non-lethal projectiles must meet a variety of conflicting requirements. They should be fired from existing weapons to prevent the people interested in self-defense, police and warfighters from carrying additional load and to prevent the need for additional weapons procurement. They should provide the desired affect at a variety of ranges. They should be lightweight to lower the burden on the user of carrying this additional capability. Above all they should be non-lethal at all distances, even near the exit the muzzle.
Existing projectile based Blunt Impact Technologies, such as beanbag rounds; rubber bullets and sponge rounds that rely on mass and velocity to create the desired effect are unable to meet these varied requirements. The problem is that the size and shape of these projectiles necessitate a relatively high initial velocity and/or mass in order to travel to the effective range. This high initial velocity combined with their mass in excess of 15 grams creates deep tissue injuries and may cause death or serious injury at short ranges. Usually even the best and lightest have masses of 30 g or more with frontal cross sectional density of 2.4 g/cm2. The lack of aerodynamics of these blunt trauma solutions cause them to be ineffective at ranges in excess of 50 meters. Lighter rounds have been developed for pistols and shotguns, but these rounds even more so lack range.
What is needed are improvements to the technology of non-lethal weapons. The inventions described herein do this in novel and unobvious ways. As used herein, the term “non-lethal” refers to weapons that are designed and/or operated so as to greatly reduce the probability of the discharge of the weapon either killing a person or creating permanent injury to an average person. Because of the wide range of operational uses, ambient conditions, and characteristics of the target, it is not possible for the devices disclosed herein to be non-lethal all of the time. It is understood that the use herein of the term “non-lethal” is inaccurate for these reasons, and the weapons disclosed herein are better described as “less-lethal.”